When it comes to fraud, there is one harsh reality that history has demonstrated over and over again. The more a fraudster gets away with something, the more emboldened they become to continue the fraud. Not only do they continue, they almost always expand it. Fraudsters are rarely criminal masterminds. Most are simply clever enough to discover a weakness in a system and exploit it for as long as no one is paying attention. As long as there are no consequences, why would they stop?
That is precisely what I believe has been happening throughout our government for decades. As more investigations continue to unfold, an increasing number of elected Democrats and individuals closely connected to Democratic political organizations are being accused, charged, and convicted of fraud and other financial crimes. This is not to say that fraud does not happen on the other side of the isle, but any reasonable person has to admit that when it comes to this particular topic, the scales have weighed very heavy on the side of the Democrat party. In my opinion, the reason this has been able to continue for so long is remarkably simple. No one was checking.
That appears to be changing. Drastically changing.
We now live in a digital world where nearly every financial transaction leaves an electronic footprint. Money moves through banking systems. Emails are archived. Electronic transfers are recorded. Contracts are stored. Communications are recoverable. While many may have believed they were quietly pilfering taxpayer dollars over the course of twenty or thirty years, today’s technology is making it increasingly difficult to hide what was once buried beneath mountains of paperwork. It appears that a reckoning is finally coming, and millions of taxpayers who have suspected something was wrong are welcoming it.
If a person is willing to honestly examine what has been happening, a pattern begins to emerge. Find an emotional issue. It doesn’t really matter whether it is homelessness, illegal immigration, drug addiction, poverty, climate change, or any number of other causes that naturally pull at the public’s heartstrings. Once the issue has everyone’s attention, create or fund a network of nonprofit organizations, commonly referred to as NGOs. Staff them with political allies, friends, consultants, and family members. Then the taxpayer money begins flowing.
The interesting part is what happens next.
The billing never seems to stop, yet neither do the problems. In many cases, the problems actually become worse.
To me, this is nothing more than supply and demand. If government creates an unlimited supply of taxpayer dollars available to organizations claiming to solve a particular problem, human nature guarantees that some people will manufacture an endless demand for those dollars. The problem itself becomes the business model. Solving it would actually threaten the revenue stream. Solve the issue? From a business and money generating standpoint, it makes more sense to do everything in their power to increase the issue. Create even more issues, to receive even more money.
If that observation makes people uncomfortable, perhaps they should ask why so many of the communities receiving billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars continue to experience worsening homelessness, increasing crime, expanding drug addiction, and deteriorating public safety. At some point, honest people have to stop accepting excuses and start demanding measurable results. Even those who have turned a blind eye or have gone through life with blinders on must get to a point when they see how they will be personally affected by the ever increasing issues that their tax dollars are being claimed to help.
One thing I have found particularly encouraging is that the old playbook distractions do not seem to be working as effectively as they once did. For years, anyone questioning government spending or demanding accountability could almost predict the response. The conversation would quickly shift toward accusations of racism, sexism, bigotry, or some other emotionally charged label designed to end the discussion before it truly began. These tactics of distraction do not seem to be working as much anymore, clearing the way for investigations and the truth to be discovered.
Fortunately, more and more Americans appear to be recognizing the obvious.
Fraud has absolutely nothing to do with race.
Fraud has nothing to do with skin color.
Fraud has nothing to do with religion.
Fraud has nothing to do with gender.
Fraud has everything to do with individual choices and a desire for self enrichment.
I don’t care whether someone is white, black, brown, yellow, green, purple, tan, or chartreuse. If they steal taxpayer money, they are a fraudster. Their skin color neither excuses nor condemns them. Their actions do.
That is exactly where our attention belongs.
We must stop allowing the very people accused of committing fraud to redirect the conversation away from the fraud itself. Accountability should never depend upon a person’s political party, race, or social status. If someone has stolen from the American taxpayer, then prosecute them. If they are innocent, let them be exonerated. But stop changing the subject.
What troubles me almost as much as the alleged fraud itself is the question of oversight. Entire government departments exist for the purpose of auditing spending, detecting abuse, and protecting taxpayer dollars. If widespread fraud has been occurring under their watch for years, then those responsible for failing to perform those duties should also be investigated. Negligence on that scale should not simply be dismissed as bureaucratic incompetence.
When it comes to theft of tax payer money, by those entrusted to protect it, it should be measured by more than the dollar amount that was taken. It should also measured by the trust that was betrayed to make the theft possible. An elected official does not simply occupy a job. They are entrusted by millions of citizens to faithfully represent the public interest and to safeguard taxpayer resources. They willingly sought that responsibility, accepted it, and swore to uphold it. When that trust is intentionally violated for personal gain, the crime extends beyond simple theft. It becomes a betrayal of the public itself. That is why I believe elected officials who abuse their office should face penalties greater than those imposed upon the average citizen. The higher the office, the greater the responsibility. The greater the responsibility, the greater the consequences should be when that trust is deliberately betrayed.
Stealing from taxpayers is still stealing.
Perhaps what has changed most over the past few years is that ordinary Americans have begun paying attention. The dollar amounts now being discussed are so staggering that they have become impossible to ignore. Even people who once dismissed concerns about government waste are beginning to ask difficult questions. They are realizing that excessive taxation has not necessarily produced better outcomes. They are seeing communities decline despite record levels of spending. They are beginning to understand that government accountability is not a partisan issue. It is a taxpayer issue. It is an every American citizen issue.
The United States remains one of the most desired nations on Earth. Millions of people seek the opportunity to come here because generations of Americans built a country that others admire. That success should never become an excuse for complacency. If corruption exists, expose it. If fraud exists, prosecute it. If taxpayer money has been stolen, recover it and get it to the people it was actually intended to help.
Authority is not a privilege. It is a trust. And the greater the trust, the greater the accountability should be when it is broken.
The tide appears to be turning.
If it continues, the biggest losers will not be honest public servants.
It will be the dishonest ones, those who believed they would never be caught, because they thought no one was watching or would ever investigate.
